Seven Hills Buzz for October 22, 2012

SEVEN HILLS The Buzz

A Brief Word from Chris Garten

October 22, 2012

26.5% of Class of 2013 receives National Merit recognition

As we near the end of the fall athletic season, I’m reminded once again of the importance of our sports program in building character and commitment in our young people.

We have had another very successful season; a number of our teams are still in contention in playoff competition. But a greater source of pride is the way our students conduct themselves both on the field and in the stands.

Throughout the season, our athletes have shown tremendous tenacity and dedication. They commit themselves to work hard in practice, they support one another, and they play like a team.

Our fans in the stands and on the sidelines are enthusiastic and supportive, but at least to this admittedly biased eye, they distinguish themselves by supporting their classmates in positive ways that bespeak the school’s commitment to sportsmanship and fair play.

My thanks to all of the coaches, both those on our own staff and our countless parent volunteers, for all you have done to make this past season such a success.

Both you and our athletes make us proud!

Chris Garten Head of School

(Seated) Sara Johnson, Shoshana Klafter, Ellen Coombe, Anu Vora, Sarah Williamson, Katherine King, Allie Baretta, Priyanka Parameswaran, Caleb Daniel, Kate Scheurer, Leah Yuan; Claire Romaine, Lawrence Vignola, Nicholas Au-Yeung, Marisa Steele, Chris Baggott, Peter Todorov, Katie Shen, Michael Bain, John Rowe, Cullen Deimer, Sara Hodgkins, Kyle Patel.

Since our last Buzz, we received news of more honors for the Class of 2013 in the National Merit Scholarship Program. In addition to our nine students who were named as semifinalists, 13 seniors were named as Commended students, bringing the percentage of the class receiving National Merit recognition to 26.5%. In addition, one senior was recognized as a National Achievement Outstanding Participant.

Seven Hills’ National Merit semifinalists are Nicholas Au-Yeung, Chris Baggott, Katherine King, Priyanka Parameswaran, Kyle Patel, Claire Romaine, Katie Shen, Peter Todorov, Leah Yuan.

National Merit Commended students are Michael Bain, Allie Baretta, Ellen Coombe, Cullen Deimer, Sara Hodgkins, Sara Johnson, Shoshana Klafter, John Rowe, Kate Scheurer, Marisa Steele,

Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids author coming Oct. 25.

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Lawrence Vignola, Anu Vora, Sarah Williamson.

In the National Achievement Scholarship Program, Caleb Daniel was named an Outstanding Participant.

Inside this Buzz Creating Conversations Series Sixth Grade Insect Day Upper School News

Middle School News

Lotspeich News

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Doherty News

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All-School Open House for prospective & current families Oct. 28. Info page 2.

creATING PRESENTS

Creative, fact-filled Sixth Grade Insect Day! Sixth graders and parents collaborate on experiments with tiny subjects— termites!

cONVerSATIONS

THE SEVEN HILLS SCHOOL SpEakEr SErIES We invite you, your family and friends

to join us for one or more of these fascinating sessions.

For more information about the free-of-charge series, and to register for the events, please call 513.728.2363 or visit www.7hills.org/CreatingConversations.

Oct. 25, 2012 7:00 p.m.

It was another creative, info-filled Sixth Grade Insect Day on Oct. 18! Insect Day is a celebration of insects with artwork; theater class presentations; parents and students working together on experiments with termites; and sharing Insect Creative Writing and Insect Cultural Connections. More photos are on page 5.

Smart Parenting, Smarter KidS David Walsh, Ph.D. Nationally recognized authority on children, teens, parenting, family life, and the impact of technology on children’s health and development; and best-selling author of nine books, including Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen and No: Why Kids—of All Ages—Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say it.

NOv. 15, 2012 4:00 p.m. Brain Development in ChilDren: a Closer look Dr. Lisa Kuan, Cincinnati area pediatrician.

JAN. 25, 2013 8:45 A.m. Ready, Set, GO! What dOeS it Mean tO be Ready fOR SchOOl?

All-School Open House is this Sunday, Oct. 28

Expert panel of Seven Hills School Childhood Counselors and Educators.

FEB. 28, 2013 7:00 p.m.

Setting Children Up for SUCCeSS

The All-School Open House for prospective and current families will be held on Sunday, October 28, from 12:30 to 2:30 pm. Current Seven Hills families who are curious about what lies ahead, for instance in Middle or Upper School, can tour the campus and experience our classrooms firsthand. Meet students, teachers and coaches and speak to the division heads and our Head of School. Bring a friend! If you are interested in attending the Open House or want to volunteer to help, please RSVP or sign up, respectively, by calling the Admissions Office at 513-728-2400.

Ann Anzalone, nationally recognized consultant on learning styles, educational plans and academic performance.

ApR. 18, 2013 4:00 p.m. Building Blocks: language & literacy for life Expert panel including Speech & Language Therapist, Nancy Fluharty; and Seven Hills School Early Childhood Counselors and Educators.

For more information or to reserve your spot, visit www.7hills.org/CreatingConversations or call

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The Seven Hills School Speaker Series

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To register for SMART PARENTING, SMARTER KIDS on Oct. 25 or for any of the sessions, go to www.7hills.org/creatingconversations.

A look at what’s happening at Upper School

See page 4 for Middle School, page 6 for Lotspeich & page 9 for Doherty

Pictured are a few of the Upper School parents who volunteered on Oct. 11, Parent Volunteer Day, at Matthew 25 Ministries in Blue Ash. They worked from 9–11:30 am in M25’s paint room sorting donated paint. M25 accepts paint donations and sorts the paints to ship to Nicaragua and Haiti where there are ongoing housing projects.

Biology teacher Barbara Scarr shared this: “One of my students took this photograph of his group’s lab in which we were burning food to determine its calorie content.

Somehow the students with flesh are not on the photograph—not on purpose— even though there were students by the equipment. The only students around seem to be on a calorie free diet!” page 3

Upper School students and writer-in-residence Dana Crum shared their original poetry at an Open Mic event at lunchtime on the deck. Open Mics are sponsored by Upper’s literary publication, Paper Noise.

Upper Theater teacher Kate Riley and Middle Theater teacher Stephanie Park are building connections between the Middle and Upper Theater Departments.

Recently, Ms. Park’s eighth graders joined Ms. Riley’s ninth graders in the DAC to work on theater games facilitated by the Upper students.

See page 5 for another collaboration between Kate Riley and Stephanie Park’s sixth grade theater students.

For the latest Upper School news, go to http://7hillscanvass.org/.

A look at what’s happening at Middle School Congratulations to sixth grader Delaney Ragusa, who is one of the local students whose artwork is included in the new book, Cincinnati: Our City. Our Story, written by noted author and Seven Hills alumna Louise Borden.

On Oct. 17 the book was launched at a benefit party hosted by Blue Manatee Book Store for The Story Project, in collaboration with the Regional Chamber C-Change Class 7 and Every Child Succeeds. Area children were asked to submit artwork representing the history and culture of Cincinnati. Delaney’s drawing of Native Americans in the Ohio region was given its own page. Cover art is by C.F. Payne, Will Hillenbrand, and Loren Long, and published by Blue Manatee Press. Proceeds from book sales will help distribute this book free of charge to disadvantaged children.

On Oct. 17, 19 Middle Schoolers represented Seven Hills at the Jr. Model UN Conference at Mt. Notre Dame High School. Our students served as delegates from Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, and Saudi Arabia. page 4

Mrs. Keller’s sixth grade pre-algebra classes kicked off their unit on integers by celebrating Integer Day. The students, who were encouraged to “dress” for the occasion with numbers somewhere on their clothes, worked at different stations doing game-like math activities.

The PE Department hosted flyfishing demonstrations by the Northern Kentucky Fly Fishing Club in PE classes. Earlier they were introduced to the sport of fly fishing with a presentation in the Hillsdale Commons.

Seventh graders visited Neusole Glass for a hands-on experience with glass blowing as part of their glass unit in art class. Students and teachers each made or “pulled” a glass flower to take home. Fine & Performing Arts Department Head and Middle art teacher Elissa Donovan said, “We also stopped by the Cincinnati Art Museum for a docent-led tour of the museum’s glass collection and a talk centering on the major themes in Modern and Contemporary Art found in the museum.”

Sixth Grade Insect Day!

Continued from page 2

Above, theater students celebrated insects in original song, choreography, and drama.

Pictured at right in Stephanie Park’s Theater 6 class, as part of the theater students’ preparation for Insect Day, Upper School theater teacher Kate Riley introduced what sounded like a very challenging activity (one she did in grad school!): groups of 2 to 4 students were to work together quickly to write a song about a specific insect, complete with chorus, solo parts for every member, choreography, and a big finish. All in under 15 minutes! And the sixth graders did it! With imagination, talent, teamwork, and confidence. We’d like to see small groups of adults try this!

See page 3 for another theater collaboration between Middle and Upper theater students. page 5

Sixth grade art students explored kiln-formed glass, learninng to cut, bend, and fuse art glass to create beautiful glass insects.

A look at what’s happening at Lotspeich As part of the QUEST (scientific thinking) unit, fifth graders designed paper airplanes in science class and conducted tests to determine which one would fly the farthest.

“First graders enjoyed a wonderful visit to California Woods Nature Preserve,” said Miss Braun. “We spent the morning exploring the habitats of local wildlife in the forest, the creek, and the meadow. We hiked up through the forest to the meadow and then hiked down to the creek. We dug under logs in the forest, used sweep nets in the meadow and turned over many rocks in the creek to get a close look at these wildlife habitats. We learned about ghost trees and beechnuts and salamanders. Before we left, we met Willie the snake! We learned so much on this day of outdoor learning.”

Mrs. Walden told us, “Third graders had great fun creating Native American pumpkin ‘masks.’ Using paint, feathers, and natural materials, the children were encouraged to use Northwest Coast Native American patterns and motifs in their designs.

No pumpkins were harmed in the construction of these masks!”

Spanish teacher Señora Hayes said, “After many discussions and stories about who wants and who has what animals, first graders painted animales of their choice in class. Each time they used a color they stated that color in Spanish: ROJO, VERDE, AZUL. A fun day!” page 6

How large is a million?

Fifth grade teacher Mrs. Riser explained a fascinating math activity: “The fifth grade classes wanted to see How Large A Million Really Is, so we built a millions cube. We used the traditional place value cubes which the students have been using since at least third grade—a unit or ones cube (which is a cm cubed), a tens (ten cubes cm high), a hundreds (10cmx10cm flat), and a thousand (10cm x10cm x10cm cube.) We then proceeded to build a 10 thousand tower, then a 100 thousand (10x10 thousand flat) and then a million—a ten x ten x ten thousands cube.

“The pictures show the kids building each place value and a large millions cube. One million cm cubes was so large that groups of kids took turns getting inside. We tried to stuff the cube, like stuffing a VW or a phone booth.

“We went on to build a billions cube which would be 3.5 classrooms high by 1 classroom wide and 1.33 classrooms long. We figured that a trillion cubes would fill Kalnow Gym. “After this exploration, students figured out how far a million cm cubes would stretch, how many pieces of .25 inch graph paper would be needed to reach a million squares, how high a million pennies would be, and how far a million of their steps would go.”

Wow! page 7

Science teacher Mrs. Williams told us about “Garden Club, a voluntary program open to first through fifth grade Lotspeich students.

Each grade is responsible for a bed and will be planting their choice of plants come spring time. We are currently working on getting the beds ready for winter. During the winter months, students will be making bird feeders and bird houses.”

This October,

follow the swarm P

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to the page 8

See

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SPIRIT SHOP Open 11:30–1:00! Lobby of Kalnow Gym.

SPIRIT SHOP merchandise online at www.7hills.org

➩ quicklinks ➩ Spirit Shop

A look at what’s happening at Doherty Many Doherty parents volunteered their time to accompany eager students around the Book Fair and help the students choose books for their take-home wish list!

Unit I is studying Scientific Inquiry, and in Mrs. Kulhavik’s class, students completed an experiment in the science lab to see what happens when a popcorn kernel is heated. The students created an hypothesis and recorded the results.

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Mrs. Vanoy’s science class explored light with many materials.

After shining light though transparent and translucent objects, they tested solids and mirrors.

Their favorite activity was a walk with prism glasses.

“We could not have had a more delightful introduction to France, our country of study this year, as we did listening to actor-singer Claudia Hommel in her interactive performance on October 5,” said Unit III Coordinator and math teacher Vaishali Sarbhoy. “Accompanied by Patricia Spaeth on the accordion, Claudia took us on a wonderful trip of France, using French songs about Paris and children’s songs to keep the audience involved and entertained. From her childhood songs like Frere Jacques, which was familiar to some, she went all the way to an improvisation of riding on a carousel. She had many children up and dancing as she sang about Les Champs Elysee and the bridge in Avignon (Sur le Pont d’Avignon).”

Mrs. Sarbhoy told us, “Mrs. Daily’s homeroom was abuzz with activity, as an assembly line of eager students worked hard at preparing sandwiches and packing lunches with juice, fruit and a sweet treat for Doherty’s monthly visit to the Open Door. They used brown lunch bags that had been colorfully decorated by Unit I and Kindergarten students. Unit II contributed by bringing in the fruit. Six fifth graders delivered these packed lunches and other generously-donated items. There were over 70 people at Open Door who were eagerly waiting for the children and were very happy to see them.

“Earlier this school year, Unit III had two visitors from Open Door Ministry—the Director Evie Foulkes and Ministry Pastor Rev. KyungJa Oh (KJ)—who spoke to the Unit III students about the Open Door and how it helps people. They told the students how Doherty helps the Open Door through our Share A Sandwich program, Winter Clothing Drive, and our Collect and Give. The students were very surprised to hear just how much our efforts help.”

Unit I visited the Heritage Village at Sharon Woods. This field trip provides an opportunity for the children to visit several restored 19th century buildings, participate in hands-on learning activities, and recognize similarities and differences between their lives today and the lives of the people 130+ years ago. One of our favorite trips of the year!

Pre-K teacher Mrs. Rubin presented the story of the Kemper House to Unit I. She is the great, great, great, granddaughter of Judy and James Kemper, who settled in Walnut Hills and built the home in 1804. Mrs. Rubin shared the history of the house that has now been relocated to Sharon Woods Historical Village.

Mrs. Schuchter’s first grade class shared “campfire” stories at the conclusion of a unit of study on forestry.

Third graders visited SunWatch Indian Village and were introduced to its prehistoric inhabitants. They first watched an introductory film, visited many displays in the museum, and toured the partially-reconstructed Village which included a prehistoric garden. They discussed agricultural plants and methods of these “first Ohioans.”

Units I-II Coordinator Elisa MacKenzie told us, “Unit I architects were amazing as they built structures for an experiment using toothpicks and gumdrops. After measuring their projects, the teachers shook them.

They passed the ‘shake and quake’ test if the structure remained standing. The students loved this experiment. (Teachers did too.) This project is in conjunction with our unit of study on cities.”